Another Taste of Paris, May 09
We were watching "Something’s Gotta Give" on TV for the thousandth times. It is one of my husband’s favourite movies and anyway there was nothing more interesting on. Harry was crashing Erica’s intimate birthday bash with the dishy Julian (love the name!) when my husband said, "Why don’t we go to Paris for the long weekend and eat there?"
He quickly made reservation for the restaurant and arranged for an accommodation (we were lucky to get a beautiful studio on the 1st arrondissement close to the Louvre). The idea was to drive to Paris, check the car into a covered parking garage, and walked everywhere. Therefore, our activities were confined in the said 1st arrondissement. It worked well for a short city-break and as a fulfillment to our promise to visit Paris again for a day in the Louvre. In addition, we walked along the Seine as far as the Notre Dame and Arc the Triomphe (I love walking along the Seine, thanks to Sabrina) and had dinner at two chosen bistros in the area.
The first was Le Grand Colbert, the restaurant in the movie. Reviews are mixed. Some lament the fact that fame gets to them. Others rave about the food. But for sure the restaurant gains a lot of fame from the movie. We didn’t have a lot of problem making reservations there as the staffs speak English.
We didn’t order "the best roast chicken in the universe" but opted for oyster on ice and onion soup and shared roast beef with roast potatoes. The food, save for the really delicious onion soup, was decent but the touted Bordeaux wine was disappointing. We think that there are many more enchanting bistros in Paris to be had for that amount of Euro. The decor was also a little pretentious and tired although a lot of people like it for being the ‘real’ Paris Bistro.
The second restaurant I discovered, L’Ardoise, was a lot more satisfying. As the staffs didn’t speak English, we had to get a colleague’s help to make the reservation in French and we were glad we came prepared. My husband gleefully watched droves of potential patrons without reservations being turned away.
As a start, they placed little savoury (cheese-based I suppose) cookies to munch while we selected our courses and wine. There was no menu book but the list of dishes was crammed on a black board hauled by the waitresses from table to table. We opted for White Asparagus with Mollet Egg, Crab Cakes (my weakness as I can’t make them), Roast Lamb, and Roast Veal with mixed mushroom and mashed potatoes. For dessert, my husband had strawberries and I had the mixed sorbet. We sipped half-bottle of Côte de Beaune throughout the meal.
This modest bistro was small and packed to the brim with locals and tourists. Furnitures were worn and provincial but the ambiance was warm and cozy. The kitchen was superb! Every one of the dishes above was tasty, simple, and hearty. We peeked at the neighbour’s order of roast chicken, served in an oval copper pot, and were seriously tempted. The whole friendly, delicious and casual experience was certainly much better than the previous night’s Le Grand Colbert. Wine was subtle and smooth, more superior than the half-bottle of Bordeaux we had the night before.
We economized during lunch so we relied on this ramen shop, Sapporo Ramen (276 Rue Saint-Honoré, Paris 75001. Tel: 33 01 40 15 98 66) for their fried-rice, Tonkotsu ramen (pork-bone broth) and gyoza. Those were delicious yet a meal for two cost as much as the half-bottle of wine we had for dinner. The fried-rice was sticky, an indication of Japanese rice instead of the more common Thai rice, the ramen was properly textured and the roast pork topping was tender and juicy.
There were others we wanted to try, like Le Severo (for the wonderful steak and pommes frites, we were willing to march outside the 1st), and Chez Denise (Address: 5 rue Prouvaires. Paris 75001. Phone: 33 01 42362182) but Labour Day is a sacred holiday in France and they were closed.
I guess we just have to make another trip to Paris.
